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Tony Dean makes presentation to OCOT board

Tony Dean, appointed to review the Ontario College of Trades (OCOT), attended a meeting of the organization’s board of governors in Toronto on Dec. 9 and reported on his mandate to study and report on the rules regarding creating new mandatory trade certifications, and in resolving “scope of practice” issues for trades, the Council of Ontario Construction Associations (COCA) reports in its newsletter.

The newsletter quoted Dean as saying he “has assembled a small team of three or four people, some who are full time on the review and others who are only part time,” some from theMinistry of Trades, Colleges and Universities, and “others from the OCOT, to support him in this review.”

“He has already had animated and positive discussions with Tim Armstrong and Kevin Whittaker (who wrote reports that were the genesis of the College) and also spoke with Garfield Dunlop MPP who has been one of the college’s most outspoken critics,” COCA reported.

“He has already spoken with approximately 30 representatives of significant stakeholders, some who support the college and others who are critics; there was uniform support for the review and offers of help.”

Dean told the OCOT board that he will publish “guidelines” for submissions in early January; “these guidelines will place significant focus on what is in the public interest.”

The March-April period will be a time for analysis, and then he will conduct a series of one-on-one meetings around the province.

“In the late spring/early summer he will begin to draft his report and will issue trial balloons to seek confirmation of his thinking,” COCA reported, with the goal of completing the assignment on time, within 12 months.

“Issues that he hears through the course of his review that fall outside the scope of his mandate that have “proportionality and make sense” will be noted in an ancillary list and reported to the Board of Governors; they will not be included in the report,” COCA reported Dean as saying.